Conservation of Our Historic Landscape Heritage

Abstract

The conservation of Britain's cultural heritage is now a matter of national significance. Changes in society and in our surroundings have recently been so considerable that a general concern has developed for retaining samples and aspects of the fabric of past societies for posterity—as direct links with our past and as stages in the development of our modern civilization in Britain. Whichever aspect of our cultural heritage is under consideration—art, science, technology, customs or landscape—there are formidable problems of principle and practice. These include questions like: Why do we conserve? What for? What do we conserve? What criteria do we use to select for conservation? How do we conserve?